For their annual toy appeal for children, the community centers Britannia Leisure Centre and Ivy Street Family Centre have joined together. On 29 November, a ‘giving tree’ will be put up at the leisure centre, featuring tags with gift requests so people can donate specific toys.
The partnership came about in an “interesting turn of events,” said Claire Reay, Ivy Street Family Centre manager, as they “wanted to do something for the community this Christmas.”
“We hope the tree in Britannia will put us in people’s minds a bit more,” said Claire. “We used to run very big toy appeals,” but this year’s toy appeal has been small compared to the pre-Covid campaigns. “People have less spare money now.”
Nevertheless, Claire remains hopeful: “We know we live in a really generous community and people are keen to help. It’s something that doesn’t take a huge amount of money but would make a huge difference to a child at Christmas.”
Toy donations are being accepted by the Britannia Leisure Centre until 1 January.
